The sun was shining brightly that day.
A wealthy married woman was happily picking out gold and silver jewelry in a jewelry store.
Suddenly, a loud noise startled her, causing her to squat down in fear, her face drained of color. Before she could process what had happened, something struck her neck, and she blacked out.
When she woke up, her vision was hazy, as if something was wrapped around her head. She had never been in such a situation before and immediately started screaming in panic.
"Ahhh—Help! Somebody help me!"
Tōshirō mimicked Toolman No. 1's voice, laughing wickedly: "Kekekeke, scream all you want. Even if you scream until your throat is raw, no one will come to save you."
Hearing that, the wealthy young wife screamed even louder.
Tōshirō, still playing the villain, continued to mess with her: "Come on, let Uncle take good care of you. That way, you won't be scared anymore."
At that moment, Kakuzu, disguised as Toolman No. 2, scolded him in a deep voice: "Kameda, cut your lustful nonsense."
Tōshirō clicked his tongue in annoyance.
The two of them were putting on a show, subtly shifting all the blame onto their two disposable tools.
Meanwhile, the real Toolmen No. 1 and No. 2 had been sent by Tōshirō to notify the wealthy businessman about his wife's kidnapping and to demand ransom—warning him that if he didn't want anything to happen to his wife, he'd better pay up.
Usually, to avoid the kidnappers killing the hostage, the targeted party wouldn't report the crime and would even deliberately keep it quiet.
At first, the wealthy businessman thought he could be clever. He planned to hand over the money to rescue his wife first, then secretly send his men to eliminate the kidnappers who dared to target him.
However, Tōshirō had already predicted his move. He deliberately didn't show up for the first exchange, frustrating the old man to no end.
The businessman was completely dumbfounded. This wasn't how kidnappings were supposed to go! He had laid out an elaborate trap to catch the criminals, only to end up looking like a complete fool.
After being left hanging for a day, the frustrated old businessman had no choice but to return home, fuming with impotent rage.
At that moment, a servant brought him a cup of tea to calm him down.
But the businessman had no patience for tea. He grabbed the cup and furiously smashed it on the floor. "Get out! I don't have time for tea right now!"
"I think you'd better drink some tea, sir."
The businessman's eyes widened in shock—this voice didn't belong to his servant!
Before he could react, the servant's appearance changed drastically.
Tōshirō, still disguised as Toolman No. 1, revealed his true form.
The wealthy old man froze for a moment, realizing what was happening. Just as he was about to speak, Tōshirō cut him off:
"You senile old fool—did you get brain surgery and have your head swapped with your ass? With your fortune, is a mere 60 million ryo for your beloved wife really that much? Have I ever asked for a single coin more than I initially demanded? And yet you dare to play tricks on me?"
The businessman was stunned. Since when did kidnappers act so self-righteous?
Looking at the indignant expression on Tōshirō's face, he almost felt like he was the one being scammed instead.
"Tomorrow at noon, prepare 120 million ryo and bring it to the Summoning Bridge. Leave the money there and then walk away.
"As soon as I receive the money, I'll release your wife. But if you dare try any more tricks, you'd better prepare to collect her corpse."
The businessman was dumbfounded. "Wait a minute, wasn't the ransom supposed to be 60 million?"
"You broke the deal first, so the price went up."
Without giving the old man a chance to argue, Tōshirō vanished using the Body Flicker Technique.
In the blink of an eye, he was gone, leaving the old man cursing in frustration.
The Next Day
The businessman, now afraid to play any more tricks, arrived at the Summoning Bridge alone, carrying a large sum of money.
He placed the ransom at the designated spot and returned home.
A short while later, the kidnappers, having collected the money, released his wife as promised.
The old businessman was seething—not because of the ransom money, but because being kidnapped and extorted had made him lose face. He couldn't just let this go. He swore he would track down the criminals and make them pay.
However, he had no leads. No matter how much he increased the bounty, he had no way of finding them—until his wife suddenly remembered something and gave him a clue.
From their conversation, they at least knew the kidnapping was carried out by a group of at least two people, and one of them was named Kameda.
The old businessman wasn't stupid. He knew that if he publicly put out a bounty, the kidnappers might catch wind of it and retaliate, possibly even kidnapping his wife again. So, he decided to secretly gather more information about these bastards.
Meanwhile…
On the other side, Tōshirō and the others were grinning from ear to ear as they counted their money.
Tōshirō casually picked up a stack of cash and handed some to Toolman No. 1 and Toolman No. 2. "The kidnapping went smoothly. Here's 5 million ryo—each of you gets 2.5 million."
An S-rank mission usually paid around 1 million ryo. In other words, these two lackeys had just made 2.5 times an S-rank bounty for doing practically nothing.
If it were before, they wouldn't have even dreamed of making this much money.
After handing them the money, Tōshirō didn't forget to dangle a bigger carrot in front of them:
"If you two keep up the good work, there'll be way bigger rewards in the future."
Neither of them had ever seen so much money in one place before. One of them immediately swore loyalty:
"I, Kameda, have finally realized today how easy making money can be! Brother Ye Wang and Brother Ding Xiu are my saviors—I'll follow you for life!"
The other lackey echoed, "Me too!"
Tōshirō chuckled. "You'll have your chance to repay me later."
Kakuzu, standing off to the side, gave Tōshirō a knowing look.
This brat is downright devious.
He was probably already plotting how to discreetly leak these two fools' identities, cash in on their rising bounties, and then kill them off for another massive payday.
After distributing the profits, Tōshirō proactively approached Kakuzu to discuss restructuring the profit distribution.
Kakuzu narrowed his eyes slightly.
Fearing a misunderstanding, Tōshirō quickly explained, "Don't get me wrong. What I mean is that from now on, all the money we earn will be counted as company revenue and used as operational funds. Our personal income will be distributed through shareholder dividends and employee salaries."
Kakuzu: ???"In simple terms, we won't distribute income per job anymore; instead, we'll distribute it monthly."
Tōshirō briefly introduced the concept of company operations and then began painting a grand vision: "From now on, I will serve as the general manager, setting the organization's strategic direction. As for you, Kakuzu, you will be the chief financial officer, responsible for managing the company's financial operations."
After listening, Kakuzu was momentarily dazed. As a ninja, he had never considered making money this way, and he found it intriguing. "Interesting."
Seeing Kakuzu's tacit approval, Tōshirō secretly rejoiced.
By implementing a dividend structure, Tōshirō could bind Kakuzu's interests with his own.
Once Kakuzu tasted the benefits of the company's profits, he would surely dedicate himself wholeheartedly to its development, becoming its most loyal worker.
After all, protecting the company's interests meant protecting his own wealth.
Due to the nature of shares, even if Tōshirō later stepped down as general manager and did nothing, his shareholder status alone would guarantee him a large sum of money every year.
The diligent worker, Kakuzu, asked, "When do you plan to get rid of those two pawns?"
Tōshirō replied indifferently, "No rush. We'll use the same method to pull off a few more jobs, then leak their identities."
"What a pitiful pair," Kakuzu chuckled darkly. "Sold out by you, and still helping you count the money."
Tōshirō shrugged. "They're just tools, after all. We should make the most of them."
Afterward, Tōshirō repeated the same scheme several times, pulling off multiple kidnappings and amassing a fortune.
One day, Kakuzu went to the underground black market, carrying a corpse to the exchange office.
A middle-aged man with a mustache spotted him and smiled. "Kakuzu, you haven't been coming around for bounty money much lately."
The two were old acquaintances.
Kakuzu simply nodded.
"Been having bad luck lately?" the mustached man asked casually.
"No," Kakuzu shook his head. "I've made enough money. Lately, I've been thinking about retirement."
"Retirement?"
The middle-aged man was surprised that someone as money-obsessed as Kakuzu would say such a thing. But considering Kakuzu's long career as a bounty hunter, it made sense.
With his efficiency in completing missions, Kakuzu had long amassed a fortune large enough to last several lifetimes.
From an outsider's perspective, quitting the bounty hunter life was reasonable.
After all, if someone had enough money, why would they risk their life as a bounty hunter?
"That's a shame," the mustached man said with a hint of regret. "Losing a talent like you is a big loss for the underground black market. I was actually about to offer you a big job. If you took it, you'd be the perfect person for it."
Kakuzu's eyes narrowed with interest. "Oh?"
Seeing his curiosity, the mustached man shared some information: in a certain country, two individuals had been kidnapping wealthy merchants one after another.
The elite circles of that country weren't large. To avoid drawing attention, the wealthy merchants had secretly banded together and reached out to the underground black market, placing a massive bounty on the two kidnappers.
This information wasn't publicly available—it was meant to lull the kidnappers into a false sense of security.
Only top-tier bounty hunters like Kakuzu were being informed.
Kakuzu nodded in understanding, his eyes glinting with interest.
The mustached man asked, "So, what will you do?"
Kakuzu responded in a deep voice, "I'll try my luck. I've been a bounty hunter for a long time, but I've never seen a bounty exceeding a billion. It'd be a nice way to end my career."
The middle-aged man watched Kakuzu leave and said, "Then I wish you the best of luck."
Upon returning, Kakuzu immediately relayed the news to Tōshirō, and they began to take action.
Tōshirō then called out the two pawns.
The two men, thinking they were about to make more money, arrived cheerfully.
While they chatted, Kakuzu silently moved behind them. They didn't feel any sense of danger.
Seeing that everything was in place, Tōshirō said indifferently, "Indeed..."
The moment he finished speaking, Kakuzu hardened his hands, forming them into blade-like shapes, and drove them straight through the two men's hearts.
The two pawns spat out blood, their eyes bulging like goldfish. "Why...?"
Kakuzu sneered, his voice sinister. "Sorry, but this time, the money is your life's worth."
With that, he crushed their hearts with a single squeeze, killing them instantly.
(End of Chapter)
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